Topic:  Am I morally obligated to give alms to those begging?

Source of this posting: Moderator response

Date originally posted: November 22, 2003

Moderator who originally posted this source: Father Phillip

Question:  I was wondering, am I morally obligated to give alms to people who make a living by begging? I mean people who beg for a profession when they are able to do other kinds of work...

Answer: 

The Scriptures are pretty clear about our obligation as Christians toward those who beg...giving alms is a venerable way to receive mercy and grace.

An alms is usually understood to be some kind of material or financial gift.

As Christians we believe that all persons have an innate dignity which comes from being created by God. We are, therefore, not to judge people -- saying this one is "worthy" in my opinion while that other one is "unworthy." A person's worthiness can be judged ONLY BY GOD.

So, we don't really have the right to say that one beggar is more worthy to receive alms than another beggar. Our obligation is to give and then let God sort out how best to apportion responsibility, blame, merit, etc.

I would say that in societies where begging is a profession we might not be amiss to understand "alms" in other ways. For instance, we could say -- without offending the intention of the Scripture -- that our alms for a particular person is that we will stop at that moment and talk with the person about his or her family. We might stop immediately around the next corner and say an Our Father for the beggar and ask God to bless that person richly.

The other dimension to this issue is that we MUST -- if God has blessed us with a place to live and food to eat -- give some of our money away. We are obligated, I believe, to return to the needy -- through ogranizations like our local parishes or Catholic Relief Services, for example -- some of the material and financial wealth which God has given us.

So while we might "spiritualize" alms-giving, if the issues of safety and prudence seem to demand it, the obligation to give our money away (I personally try to give away 10% of my after-tax income)remains!

Blessings,
Father Phillip